Underwater munitions targeted for toxin risk

Terry Long’s company tests an IVER autonomous underwater vehicle in Bedford in February before using the device to map the floor of the harbour. (TIM KROCHAK / Staff)

It only makes economic sense to start cleaning up the many tonnes of munitions that have been dumped off the Nova Scotia coast, says a local munitions expert.

“They are seriously impeding economic development,” said Terry Long, a former Canadian military engineer and organizer of the International Dialogue on Underwater Munitions.

Old munitions dumped off the province’s shoreline are likely leaching toxic chemicals, killing fish and contaminating seafood, Long said Wednesday during a break from the conference his organization is hosting at Saint Mary’s University this week.

There are more than 3,000 sites off Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador where the military dumped munitions between the First World War and the 1970s, the Cape Breton native said.

One area off Cape Breton known as the Sydney Bight contains over 80,000 tonnes of dumped conventional weapons that contain highly carcinogenic materials, including TNT, he said.

“We have a higher cancer rate than the rest of the country,” Long said. “It’s time to start looking at munitions as a potential source.”

He also speculated that contaminants leaking from munitions could be a cause of declining fish stocks.

Tests performed on lobsters caught in areas where munitions have been dumped off Puerto Rico have found the crustaceans contain more than 360 times the acceptable level of heavy metals, he said.

Long said lobster caught in the Bedford Basin, which is known to be littered with munitions from the 1945 Bedford Magazine explosion, are likely similarly contaminated.

While leaving the munitions in our oceans is hurting the economy, the process of cleaning them up would stop the contamination and create jobs, he said.

Poland is much further ahead in its efforts to get old ordnance out of its waters, he said.

“The Polish government is ready to go forward,” said Jagusiewicz, noting the next step in the process is selecting the best method to recover and dispose of the weapons.

His dream, he said, is to see his country start taking chemical weapons out of the Baltic, with neighbouring countries joining in the exercise.

The cause needs academics and non-governmental organizations to raise awareness, said Rita Kazragiene, the deputy chief of Lithuania’s Mission to the United Nations. Her country is the lead sponsor for the UN resolution on sea-dumped chemical munitions.

Kazragiene is working to create a global database of marine munitions dump sites.